Intel's Edison board now links up to IBM's Bluemix cloud service

Intel is making it easier to create smarter and more functional gadgets, robots, drones, and wearables using its Edison developer board.

The company has made a series of improvements to its latest IoT Developer Kit 3.0, which is used to program functionality into devices.

The developer kit adds support for a wider range of sensors and adds connectivity to IBM's Bluemix cloud service. The kit also has improved programming tools and integration with Google's Brillo and Android.

Edison has been used as a developer board to prototype and test devices. The new features provide a springboard to make Edison a viable platform for end products. The board could be used in products such as smart helmets, but it is too big for small electronics and some wearables.

The developer kit can now link smart devices to IBM's Bluemix cloud, which can aid in the development of IoT applications and services. Developers can use simple templates to view sensor data through applications and services offered by IBM and other companies on Bluemix.

Bluemix will also provide access to Watson APIs related to analytics and speech and image recognition.

The developer kit also improves hardware and communications support for Brillo, Google's software stack to make connected devices. Many ARM-based development boards also support Brillo, which is gaining support as an Internet of Things development platform.

At CES earlier this year, Asus showed a Brillo-based hub to connect smartphones to smart home devices, and LG said it was partnering with Google to develop devices with Brillo.

Also included in the Intel developer kit is improved support for the Open Interconnect Consortium's IoTivity protocol, which helps establish connections between compatible devices.

The IoT Developer Kit 3.0 will also be the primary development tool for Intel's recently announced Robotics Development Kit, which includes a developer board with an Atom processor and a RealSense 3D camera.

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